Date of Conferral

2016

Degree

Doctor of Business Administration (D.B.A.)

School

Management

Advisor

Matthew Knight

Abstract

Many U.S. organizations fail to retain Millennials for longer than 3 years. The purpose of this case study was to explore the strategies and methods leaders have used to retain Millennial employees within a small business in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. The leaders of this small business have retained their Millennial employees for the last 3 years. The conceptual frameworks for the study were Bass's transformational leadership theory and von Bertalanffy's general systems theory. Data were collected from semistructured interviews with 4 participant leaders with a successful record of retaining Millennials. In addition, company documents including policies, training records, company website, and peer-reviewed journals were gathered to supplement the semistructured interviews. All data were analyzed using the modified van Kaam method. The findings revealed that these 4 leaders employed specific strategies for career growth opportunities, communication plans, organizational level community involvement, high compensation packages, high functioning and fun culture, regular feedback meetings, training opportunities, and respect for opinions to solve the low retention rate among Millennials within an organization. The leaders also reported 3 methods that they employed to retain Millennials were maintaining open lines of communication, establishing positive relationships with management, and providing targeted training throughout the employees' tenure. Social change implications include organizational leaders increasing retention rates of Millennial employees by enhancing employee motivation and improving relationships. Results may benefit organizations by reducing turnover costs.

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